This was composed in 2015.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
Portrayal of women
-Venus Anand
Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by an English novelist, Jane Austen, who was a woman born 150 years ahead of her time, a prototype modern individual living in an age when female social conformity was demanded, original thinking frowned upon and creativity discouraged among women. Jane Austen lived and wrote at a time when the upper class women of 19th century England were governed by a strict code of conduct that extended to all walks of life. [I intend to show] the portrayal of women in 19th Century with context to a novel named Pride and Prejudice. For this, I’ll consider women’s education and profession, their social standing, expectations from them and would be citing some examples to support the answer. A detailed conclusion will be provided at the end.
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. Pride and Prejudice may start off with the anonymous figure of a rich, single man, but the novel is actually concerned with the plight of poor, single women. Most of the women in the novel are in a bind. All young women did not enjoy the privilege to pursue education. Often, daughters of the middle and upper class could be sent to school, their education there consisted more of becoming "accomplished" than it did of expanding their academic knowledge. Education was accessible but not structured and completely out of women’s reach when the matter comes to higher education. The society considered boys to be the ones who need education because they could inherit the fortune and carry on the family name and tradition. Women at one hand did not show much support for their right to education, as few were interested in studies. Example - The prime symbol of academic knowledge, and more-or-less exclusively masculine educational attainments, was the Classical languages- Greek and Latin, to which a great deal of time was devoted in genteel boys' education, but which few women studied. A woman’s formal education was limited because her job opportunities were limited and vice versa. Education for women meant ‘accomplishment’ for they required many accomplishments to show their status in the society. More accomplishment meant more respectability in the town and among peers. Example- Bingley’s dialogue: "It is amazing to me, how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are"; "I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished". Since women did not usually have careers as such and were not considered citizens in the sense of being directly related to politics, 19th Century people may have felt that the correct purpose of education to women is far less valuable to the knowledge of domestic role. As for domestic training in those days were sewing or needlework among the traditional domestic works such as cooking. Sewing had something to do with practical utility as it not only took a considerable amount of time to a girl but also meant self-made materialistic possession. Sewing could be done sitting down while engaging in light conversation or listening to a novel being read.
Women’s work made their social status inferior to that of men because the latter was indulged in outside-home works (jobs) that yield a financial amount. Therefore, male members of the family are responsible for feeding and fulfilling the needs of females and this role gives them supreme importance. Women were not allowed to inherit the fortune either. Example- in Elizabeth’s case, she is dependent upon her father while he is living and she is unmarried, but because of the entail and the fact that she has no brothers, her situation could become quite desperate when her father dies. She, her mother and sisters would be forced to rely upon the charity of their relatives, such as Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and even Mr. Collins. Such a position would be extremely distasteful and humiliating. One phrase from the starting of the novel - "It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not visit them." This right away depicts how powerless women are. There is literally no respectable way for the Bennet girls to meet Bingley unless their dad makes the first move.
The status of women in the society was complex, they had to adhere to every norm and had to marry at a young age. Other options available to a gently bred young woman who needs to support herself would be to take a position as a governess or a lady's companion. Both jobs allowed a woman to earn a living without sacrificing her social position. However, the working conditions of these jobs were often unpleasant and degrading. Governesses might be preyed by the men in the family for whom they worked, while lady's companions, such as Miss De Bourgh's companion- Mrs. Jenkinson, might be treated poorly by their employers and given menial tasks to attend to. Any other form of employment a woman could take was considered unacceptable and would most likely irrevocably harm her social standing.
One of the first things that draw our attention is the descriptive way in which Elizabeth is supposed to behave and the arts she must learn in order to fit in society. She has to learn several abilities such as singing and dancing to be a distinguished woman from the upper-middle class.
In conclusion, Women were expected to be virtuous, submissive, modest, concealing to their intelligence and abilities and leaving matters of science, philosophy, politics and business to more intelligent and better informed gentlemen. Literature is a mirror of social evolution. In it we find a living record of the progressive emergence of individuality in history. It depicts the development of political rights, social equality, and of course the rise of women in several stages. By writing about a female character who is bold, independent, honest, and forthright, Jane Austen is critiquing female identity in early nineteenth-century England and also portrays Elizabeth͛s struggle to express her individuality in a society that demands strict social conformity, a situation far afield for most Western women today, but closely resembling the pressures felt by woman in many Asian countries even now.
EXTRA (Women’s social standing)
An unmarried woman's social standing would also be harmed by her living alone, outside of the sphere of her family's influence. If a single woman who had never been married was not living with her family, she should at least be living with a suitable chaperone. Example- when the Bennet daughters travel, they always stay in the company of a relative or a respectable married woman. Jane visits the Gardiners, Elizabeth stays with newly married Charlotte, and later travels with the Gardiners. Lydia goes to Brighton as the guest of Mrs. Forster. When Lydia runs away with Wickham, however, her reputation and social standing are ruined by the fact that she lived with him alone and unwed for two weeks. Only marriage can save her from being rejected by her social sphere, and only marriage can save her family's reputation as well, unless they disown her. Consequently, Darcy's efforts to find Wickham and Lydia and then to buy Wickham's marriage to Lydia quite literally saves not only Lydia's reputation, but the whole Bennet family as well.
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